Trump vs. Kamala s Coronation – WSJ

I didn t call it a coup when Mr. Biden was driven out of the race. More coup-like was his team s effort to secure him the nomination in the first place while hiding his condition. But his replacement by Kamala, by unseen hands pulling unseen levers, plausibly overlaps with common usage of the word. Even her biggest backer, the godfather of the Biden presidency, South Carolina s Rep. James Clyburn, insisted there should be a mini-primary of some sort to legitimize her rise.

A widespread supposition by Democrats, from Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama to James Carville, was that the party couldn t just hand her the nomination without some window dressing of process. Mr. Biden himself has said little about his exit and endorsement of his vice president, but what he said was telling. It wasn t his health. It wasn t his polls. It was fellow top Democrats supplying the press with quotes questioning his ability to serve that made his continuation impossible.

Ms. Harris has since failed to articulate policies. Mr. Trump should challenge her on this basis, goes an argument. But the manner of her rise touches on a deeper part of the Trump critique. In 2017, the meaning of Trumpism changed with the Steele dossier. To his followers, it was now about the depths to which the establishment would sink to hold power.

via www.wsj.com

Holman Jenkins.

He might be being too optimistic.